Jon Gruden Out In Tampa After Seven Seasons, GM Allen Gone As Well

Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer fired both head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen after a season which saw the team lose their final four games after a 9-3 start, the final to Oakland which caused them to miss the playoffs.

Gruden went 22-26 over the last three seasons and 60-57 during his tenure in Tampa Bay after coming from the Oakland Raiders in 2002.

It was Gruden's 2001 Raiders who fell victim to the "Tuck Rule" game to the New England Patriots. Gruden was afterwards let go and replaced Tony Dungy in Tampa.

Gruden subsuquently took Dungy's players and won Super Bowl XXXVII against Oakland in January 2003.

"We will be forever grateful to Jon for bringing us the Super Bowl title, and we thank Bruce for his contributions to our franchise," said Glazer in a statement. "However, after careful consideration, we feel that this decision is in the best interest of our organization moving forward."

Gruden becomes the second Super Bowl-winning coach to be fired, joining Mike Shanahan, and the tenth overall this offseason.

With the departure of defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin to the University of Tennessee, Tampa Bay now had additional holes to fill on its coaching staff leading into the offseason.